Interpretive Summary: A follow-up cookie-baking study, using various alternatives with lower glycemic impact in place of sucrose, was conducted to explore the requirements for commercial production of high-quality cookies with lower glycemic impact and improved prebiotic nutritional benefits. As diagnostic sugars, sucrose (as the reference) and potential sucrose-replacing sugars (tagatose and ribose) and polyols (maltitol, lactitol, xylitol, and polydextrose) were used to explore the effects of sugar-replacer type. Thermal behavior and starch pasting behavior of wheat flour in each sugar solutions showed retardation of starch gelatinization and retardation of the onset of starch pasting. Cookie-baking results showed that wire-cut cookies formulated with xylitol, tagatose, and ribose exhibited snap-back. In contrast, cookies formulated with maltitol, lactitol, and especially polydextrose showed facilitated flow and elongation in the direction of dough sheeting. Time-lapse photography during baking demonstrated that maltitol and lactitol cookies exhibited the most similar baking responses to those for sucrose, among all the potential sucrose-replacers. Those two polyols could be used most easily as sucrose substitutes, to produce healthier cookies with lower glycemic impact. In addition, the cookie-baking behavior for polydextrose was sufficiently similar to that for sucrose, so that a blend of polydextrose with maltitol or lactitol could be used to replace sucrose, thus providing the additional benefit of a prebiotic soluble-fiber ingredient. As in our previous study, SRC, DSC, RVA, and wire-cut cookie baking, including time-lapse photography, were shown to be valuable as predictive research tools for guiding the successful mitigation of the detrimental effects of sucrose replacement, thus enabling the production of healthier cookies with the same product eating-quality attributes as ordinary cookies formulated with sucrose.

Technical Abstract:
The anti-plasticizing action of the high sucrose concentration in a cookie formula inhibits both gluten development during dough mixing and starch gelatinization/pasting during baking. If alternative sugars and polyols with lower glycemic impact are used to replace sucrose, the resulting absence of readily digestible starch allows production of healthier cookies. For this study, sucrose (as a reference) and potential sucrose-replacing sugars (tagatose and ribose) and polyols (maltitol, lactitol, xylitol, and polydextrose) were used to explore the effects of sugar-replacer type on results from solvent retention capacity (SRC), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Rapid Visco-Analyzer (RVA), and wire-cut cookie baking. DSC results showed retardation of starch gelatinization, and RVA results showed retardation of the onset of starch pasting, both in the same order: water<ribose<tagatose<xylitol<sucrose=maltitol<lactitol<polydextrose. Cookie-baking results showed that wire-cut cookies formulated with xylitol, tagatose, and ribose exhibited snap-back, diagnostic for gluten development during dough mixing. In contrast, cookies formulated with maltitol, lactitol, and especially polydextrose showed facilitated flow and elongation in the direction of sheeting. Notably, only for the cookies that exhibited snap-back, cookie height was inversely correlated with cookie length, but not with width. Among these potential sugar-replacers, maltitol and lactitol exhibited the most similar baking responses to those of sucrose, as demonstrated by time-lapse photography during baking. These results suggested that those polyols could be used most easily as sucrose substitutes, in order to produce traditional wire-cut cookies with lower glycemic impact. The baking behavior of polydextrose was also sufficiently similar to that of sucrose, so that a blend of polydextrose with maltitol or lactitol could replace sucrose, with the additional benefit of a prebiotic soluble fiber.